Marriage law in Malaszec
In Malaszec, all Zloije have marriage law except for Rescija, which has had no legal marriage for any species since 1932. Among most Malaszec faeries, marriage is seen as a non-faerie institution introduced by the Final Imperial Malaszec regime and was abolished in Andeija, Rescija, and Dovreija during the Malaszec Communist Revolution. Dovreija later reintroduced legal marriage in 1950 due to the growing marriage-normative population, and Andeija reinstated legal marriage, but only for humans, elves, and dwarves in 2033 to ban same-sex marriage after the beginning of the Marriage for Love Movement in Malaszec in
- As a result of this movement, same-sex marriage and different-species marriage (aside from elf-human marriages which were already legal in all marriage-legal jurisdictions) gained legal recognition in Dovreija (in 2032), Nordarijn (2035), Agerszijn (2036), and Serszec (2037). Regardless of the differences, marriages in one Zloije are generally not recognized in any other Zloije, so couples must re-marry if they move from one Zloije to another.
Origins
Modern marriage law in Malaszec is descended from marriage law in the Final Malaszec Empire, which arose from the unification of various similar marriage traditions in Northern Malaszec, which were heteronormative and did not allow for different-species marriages. The codification of marriage law was done to create a stable system of arbitration for political marriages and inheritance law across the empire. Marriage between elves and humans were allowed under this system mainly because it was common in political marriages. This system was later imposed upon the faerie Zloije of Southern Malaszec where marriage was uncommon. The dominant Malaszec faerie societies were matrilineal and matrilocal, where the matriline lived in a single tree and the caretakers of faerie children were the mother and the mother’s brother while the father remained with his matrilineal tree. Although faerie society had rules regarding who may enter into a relationship, the legal system of marriage imposed by the Imperial Government was incompatible with the faerie tradition and seen as a tool of oppression by the empire, which led to the abolition of legal marriage by the faerie Zloije during the Malaszec Communist Revolution. The later reinstatement of legal marriage in faerie Zloije are typically done for the sake of non-faeries.
Marriage for Love Movement
The legal recognition of same-sex and different-species marriages in some Zloije was spurred by the Marriage for Love Movement in 2032. The movement began after the relationship between Lazja Venowic, a female faerie working for Dovreija ZE, and Ilre Sarlej, a female elf working for Astlod ZE, became known to the public in 2031. At the time, cooperation between the Zloije was rocky in the Malaszec Federation, which had formed only a few years earlier. As a result, the joint bioprospecting mission between Dovreija ZE and Astlod ZE into the Heartland was widely publicised, and with Lazja Venowic and Ilre Sarlej both on the same team on this mission, their relationship became publicised as well. The greatest initial opposition to this movement stemmed from Astlod, and its corporate body Astlod ZE fired Ilre Sarlej under pressures to respond to the situation, stating in a press release that their relationship was “contrary to the natural order,” and that they would re-hire her if she renounced her relationship in public. The movement was strongest in Dovreija, which had a history of cohabitation between faeries and non-faeries throughout much of the country’s communist era, as well as a significant population of dwarves from Erothena, there the norm is gender-fluidity. Naturally, supporters of the movement were outraged by the Astlod decision, and under mounting pressures, Dovreija legally recognized their relationship in 2032. This was expanded to all same-sex and different-species marriages later that year.
With the movement’s first major victory, the movement strengthened and more voices of same-sex and different-species couples across Malaszec were getting heard through protests and through the fledgling world wide web. The movement had strong support in Nordarijn, where there was a large Erothenan dwarf population. When Dovreija recognized Lazja and Ilre’s relationship, the business partnership between Dovreija and Astlod was dissolved, and so Dovreija sought a partnership with Nordarijn instead to destigmatise their recognition of the marriage. This led to recognition by Nordarijn, and both Zloije began a PR campaign promoting this, soon to be joined by Nordarijn and Serszec. Lazja and Ilre later criticized the commodification of their relationship as a result of this campaign, questioning whether this recognition was out of genuine concern for civil rights or simply the fear of losing profits.